<p>It’s cool that this competition is coming to UChicago. The school has some great facilities (and new ones - like the Logan Arts Center - are coming), so it’ll be great for the school to host more public functions like this in the future.</p>
<p>DivineComedy, I’m not really sure what you mean by the “academic/sports ratio.” I also think it’s a little silly to clump all the ivies together in terms of their attitude toward sports. Some schools, like Princeton and Dartmouth, are extremely sporty, and something like 20-25% of the student body at each school is a Division I athlete, which is pretty nuts. Other schools, like Columbia, have much less of a sports vibe, especially with its athletic facilities being located far from campus. </p>
<p>Personally, I don’t think this McDonald’s competition means much in terms of changing attitudes toward UChicago sports. At the same time, instead of going D1 like some of its peer schools, the first step would be for RESULTS to matter at UChicago. There are many, many coaches at U of C who can stay for years and years, even though the teams are often terrible. Sports at top schools matter in the sense that they develop soft factors in athletes that employers/grad schools like. Look at top b schools or med schools - the classes tend to be very sporty.</p>
<p>With this in mind, it’s important for UChicago to to develop a winning culture within its sports programs. Instead of sports being completely ancillary and being fueled primarily by the eggheads who just happen to be decent at soccer or basketball (as is the case, say, at Caltech and MIT), UChicago may want to create more of the sports culture found at a Williams or Amherst - schools where athletes are expected to win and succeed, and coaches are held accountable for their results. </p>
<p>Especially at the D3 level, there’s nothing stopping UChicago from developing a culture of excellence. As UChicago moves forward, a key motivating factor for the school should be excellence across fields - and winning on the field at the D3 level can certainly coexist with elite, rigorous academics.</p>